


Staring at the starry ceiling

by LightsUpInTheNorth



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: And he doesn't want people to know, Ficlet, Fluff, He's afraid of the dark, M/M, Steve has a secret, Steve's Pov, but not everything goes according to plan, life's like that sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightsUpInTheNorth/pseuds/LightsUpInTheNorth
Summary: Steve has a secret. On several occasions, it came close to being discovered, but he has always managed to salvage it.See, Steve is afraid of the dark.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 16
Kudos: 171





	Staring at the starry ceiling

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! here is a fluffy ficlet :) I hope you'll enjoy ;) 
> 
> (The title is taken from the song Fossil in Stone by Charm of Finches.)

Steve has a secret. On several occasions, it came close to being discovered, but he has always managed to salvage it. 

See, Steve is afraid of the dark. He’s never liked it, as a child, but it gets even worse after Barbara dies in his pool. Having to fight interdimensional monsters sure as hell doesn’t help either. 

His fear is not that hard to deal with, thankfully. He just keeps a lava lamp on his bedside table, makes sure he keeps flashlights and candles in every room of his house in case there is a power shortage, tries to steer clear of sleepovers, and, when he actually has to spend the night with someone, well he just stays awake and tries not to panic until the other person is asleep. Then, he goes to a room in which he can turn on the lights without disturbing anyone. He makes it work. 

Nancy never notices anything the whole time they’re a couple. 

So, after the breakup, when Steve starts having regular sexual encounters with Billy, he thinks it’ll be the same. He’ll do things the way he always does, and Billy, like Nancy and everyone else in Steve’s life, will be none the wiser. 

It works, at first. It’s easy, even: Billy can never stay too long after they’re done fucking, because he can’t risk his father finding out he spent the night away from home. 

But then Billy nearly dies and, as soon as he’s out of the hospital, he gets his own flat with the government’s hush money. He invites Steve over before he’s even moved in. In fact, Steve’s the one who helps Billy carry the few boxes containing his stuff into his new place.

He starts coming over often, but it doesn’t immediately threaten his secret’s safety, because Steve goes to Billy’s, they have sex, and then Steve leaves. He figures that’s what’s expected of him, anyway. Sex is kind of what their whole arrangement is about, right? Sure, after nearly losing Billy, Steve whishes they could have more than that, but he doesn’t want to pressure him or, worse, lose him entirely by asking for a commitment Billy’s not ready to take. 

It goes on like this for a while, and it’s not perfect, but it’s fine. After all the shit that happened, Steve can do ‘fine’. 

But, of course, it doesn’t last forever. Nothing ever does. 

One night, as Steve is getting dressed to leave Billy’s flat, Billy says: 

“You know you can stay, right?” 

“Oh… uh… I can?” Steve stammers. 

“Yeah… I wouldn’t mind… I really wouldn’t, actually.” Billy says, looking at Steve through his lashes. 

“That’s… that’s nice… It’s just that I have the morning shift, so I’d better go home you know… so I’m not dead on my feet at work.” 

The excuse Steve just gave is utter bullshit. Yeah, sure, he’s got the morning shift, but it doesn’t even start that early, and Family video is always dead in the morning, so it’s not like it’s going to be very challenging. Also, Billy lives closer to the place than Steve does, so staying the night would actually have made him save time (he would have had to borrow some clothes, but he’s positive Billy wouldn’t have minded much). 

Billy also thinks it’s bullshit, if the way he closes off is any indication. 

“Right… I get it. See you whenever, I guess.” He says before turning around in his bed, so he’s facing away from Steve. 

Steve wants to yell that “no”, Billy doesn’t get it. But then he’d have to explain he can’t stay because he’s afraid of the dark like a five-year old kid (and not even a tough one). So he just leaves without another word, trying to ignore the knots in his stomach. 

However, once he’s back at the Harrington residence, he can’t stop thinking about how down Billy looked. He doesn’t sleep all night because of it, and he does end up dead on his feet at Family Video the following morning. That’s karma. 

Billy’s probably a bit mad at him, but it doesn’t deter Steve from going to his flat in the evening. He brings beer and a giant pizza from Billy’s favorite pizzeria as a way to ask for forgiveness. They don’t have sex, for once, but Steve still asks: 

“Does it still hold?”

“Mh?” Billy mumbles sleepily. 

“Your offer to stay the night, does it still hold?” Steve clarifies. 

Billy seems a lot more awake, suddenly. 

“Uh… Yeah. It sure does.” 

“Cool.” Steve smiles, hiding the uneasiness he feels at the prospect of the darkness awaiting him. 

When they go to bed, Steve waits until he thinks Billy’s asleep, his breathing deep and regular, and then gets up to turn the bathroom’s lights on. He leaves the door ajar so some of the light spills into the bedroom. If Billy asks about it in the morning, Steve will pretend he went to the bathroom and forgot to turn the lights off when he went back to sleep. Easy peasy.

He feels a bit guilty about rising the amount of Billy’s electricity bill, but he can always contribute. Billy will most probably fight him about it, but Steve will argue that he spends a lot of time at Billy’s and therefore should help with the bills, and they’ll call it a day. 

It doesn’t exactly go according to plan, though. Because Billy catches on. Of course, he does. He’s far too observant not too. 

One night, before they go to bed, Billy announces he has something for Steve. He assures it’s not much but that he thinks it might be helpful. Helpful for what? Steve doesn’t know and doesn’t ask, choosing instead to tear into the wrapping paper (because, yes, Billy wrapped the gift, which is awfully cute) and open the box it covered. 

Inside, he finds a big round object with a wire attached to it. 

“Uh… thanks. That’s… nice.” 

Steve doesn’t know if he should admit he has no idea what Billy’s just given him. He doesn’t want to look stupid for not being able to identify it. 

“Give it here, I’m going to show you.”

Steve does as he’s told and watches as Billy proceeds to sit on the floor and plug the thing, whatever it is, into the nearest power socket. As soon as he does, the walls and ceiling of the bedroom are covered in luminescent stars. 

Oh… 

“I also got a more low-key one, if you’re not really into the whole starry deal.”

Steve never wanted Billy, or anyone, to find out about his fear, because he’s always thought that people would laugh at him if they did. After all, what kind of grown ass man is scared of the dark? But Billy obviously knows, has known for a while, even, and he’s not laughing. He hasn’t even mentioned it directly. And he got Steve a fucking night light.

Steve’s frozen for a minute. He stays exactly where he is, staring unblinkingly at the stars on the walls. 

“Right… You hate it. It’s okay, forget it. We can just sleep with the bathroom lights on.”

Billy’s quick to say, putting his hand back on the plug as if to pull it off from the socket. Steve kneels behind him and plasters himself over Billy’s back, sneaking his arms around his waist. It effectively stops Billy from unplugging the device, leaving them both under the soft glow of the artificial stars. 

“I love it, babe. Thank you.” Steve whispers, beaming, even though Billy can’t see him. 

Billy turns his head sideways and catches Steve’s upturned lips in a sweet kiss. 

That night, under the now starry ceiling, engulfed in Billy’s heat, Steve sleeps more soundly than he has in years.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot for reading! ;) 
> 
> Comments and kudos are really appreciated, if you feel so inclined :p 
> 
> PS: I don't really know if this kind of fancy night lights existed in the 80's (basic ones did, at least), but if it didn't, let's just say it's a Modern AU ;) 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at https://lightsupinthenorth.tumblr.com/ :)


End file.
